Oil and gas

There is growing pressure from intergovernmental organizations, governments and consumers to reduce the quantity of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. Investments in green technology such as renewable energy sources, battery technology and carbon capture and sequestration can often yield significant reductions in carbon emissions. However, the corresponding economic costs of these projects can regularly result in a balancing act between environmental benefit and affordable energy consumption. Smart Energy Network, SEN, systems could provide a solution to this dilemma.

Education preparedness is important for communities to engage in the resource sector development. This ranges from having the minimum requirements of a high school diploma to acquiring trades expertise or have a professional designation. Often overlooked are the reasons for gaps in this area. The goal of this research is first to determine the gaps, and second to map them in a manner that highlights the differences of the communities interviewed.

Stability of the pipeline system is highly significant considering the economic and environmental concerns. The development of a tool for understanding the effects of hydrodynamic forces will allow operators to construct more stable pipeline systems with utmost cost efficiency. In this study, a numerical investigation will be conducted with the help of CFD and FEA packages for simulating environmental hydrodynamic conditions. Consequently, simulations will show the influence of different loading conditions on the pipeline structural response and stability.

This project will review water source alternatives for the Husky Lloydminster Upgrader Complex. These alternatives will be evaluating in terms of their relative economic, technical, social and environmental risks. The framework developed will provide a basis for conducting similar water risk assessments for other operations. The interns will research alternatives, risks, and develop the assessment framework.

Pipeline operators are required to make decisions for various complex pipeline integrity situations on a daily basis. These integrity situations often comprise a complex interaction between integrity threats such as corrosion, cracking, third party damage, dents, buckles, and wrinkles. A pipeline operator usually develops their own processes towards dealing with each specific integrity threat. In general, the processes are developed based on the stipulations by the Canadian Oil and Pipeline Systems Standard, the in-house experience, and the current up-to date integrity specific research.

In order for Canadian industry to continue to meet the high demand for energy they must adhere to the social and environmental pressures to reclaim and restore the extraction sites to fully functioning ecosystems, and to offset environmental destruction when appropriate. Recent changes to Canadas Fisheries Act in 2012, have enshrined offsetting strategies as a legislative means of compensating for the loss of commercial, recreational or Aboriginal (CRA) fisheries. In Albertas Oil Sands Region, the creation of new lakes (i.e.

The chemistry, thermodynamics, and transport phenomena of sulfur compounds in upstream petroleum operations is important as it impacts materials used in the production and processing systems, health and safety plans, treatment processes, and transport of petroleum. In offshore operations these impacts are magnified due to the remoteness of the operations and infrastructure limitations on the platform. Sulfur is introduced into offshore reservoirs through the injection of seawater containing sulfate and/or existing organic sulfur compounds in the reservoir.

Sequestering the industrially produced CO2 leads to its capture via the underground formation of stable inorganic carbonates/bicarbonates. An alternate approach is to convert the CO2 into valuable organic products having commercial markets. The incorporation of CO2 as block molecule with which to expand the platform is part of the Enerkem strategy aiming to further improve the use of Carbon from waste. Such strategy is deployable across Alberta.

The Grosmont Formation contains about 400 billion barrels of resource and is a huge prize for Alberta and Canada. Laricina Energy is at the forefront of unlocking this resource with its Saleski carbonate pilot. The Grosmont mainly consists of dolomite and if acid is added to the formation, the reservoir rock dissolves and its permeability can be enhanced. It remains unclear whether acid stimulation is acting as a wellbore cleaning technology or whether it is acting as an element of the recovery process itself since acid reacts with the carbonate rock to generate carbon dioxide.